The greatest threat to our planet!!!!

This is a great video which recently won a contest for the Congress for the New Urbanism. If you don’t know what New Urbanism is take a quick look at this video and then venture to wikipedia. I don’t think New Urbanism is perfect, but it is a we need to philosophy be thinking very seriously about because its concepts are pretty good.

Bloggin Again

I have been pretty out of commission for the past few months.  Classes picked up, my family was in a lot of transition, we had several family emergencies and I have been operating from a perpetual state of tiredness.

Hopefully, today is a good day to restart bloggin’ because 1) my classes for my first year of the  Taylor University MAHE program are almost over, 2) I am sick, thus not in the office, 3) it is a Friday and those are usually slower days for me, and 4) it is just time.

Over the past couple months I have been writing for UrbanFaith. It isn’t anything official; I am just freelancing every so often. My good friend Ed Gilbreath gave me the opportunity to put in my thoughts and I graciously accepted. This has been a good experience and I look forward to being able to add more to Urban Faith in the future.

Additionally, the past couple months have been somewhat exhausting. I did not anticipate life to be as busy as it ended up being.  However, this hectic semester has actually reminded me of why I enjoyed bloggin’ in the first place.  It was never to pontificate about ideology, but it was more to express thoughts in hopes of feedback and conversation. Bloggin’ is a good break from the routine of life and busy nature of work/school.  As I restart bloggin’ I hope to be focused on producing fodder for thought and conversation.

I hope all is well with all of those reading this post and look forward to getting back into conversations (whether new or routine reader).

The Jesus Response

I apologize  for posting on Christianity & Homosexuality again, it has simply been an issue on my mind recently.

A few months ago, a report came out in which Ray Boltz, admitted that he has been struggling with this sexual identity and that he was in fact, homosexual.

While I was in my undergraduate studies at Taylor University – Boltz’s daughter, Liz, was also a student – Boltz played his farewell concert at Taylor University and I personally traveled down Botlz’s barn/studio in Muncie, Indiana to hear several artists perform. I had the opportunity to meet Boltz several times. He was a normal middle aged musician, with a collection of guitars, and a sleek, black Harley Davidson that would make even the most pious preson envious. At the time I did not suspect that he was struggling with his sexual identity, but in reality, he already determined that he was homosexual.

I am taken aback when he publicly came out. It just wasn’t something I was expecting. I personally don’t believe that homosexuality is Biblical, but experiences that I have gone through have also given me a perspective that earnestly, in practice and in theory, believes that those who are homosexual can be wonderful, loving, kind and even Godly people. I know that that is messy; I struggle with how someone can live I life that is remorselessly rooted in sin, yet still exhibit Godly characteristics. But the reality is that, it happens (we often acknowledge this to be so with other sins, why is homosexual actions as special case?)

I admit that I have not been keeping up with how the Christian community has responded, but pray that Christianity’s response has been and will be one filled with the complexity of love – maintaining the integrity of the Bible, while offering humble friendship.  As Christianity continues to deal with the issue of not only homosexuals, but homosexuals who also claim Christian faith, I pray that God will give us discernment, strength, and humility.

In a related subject, Bryan Loritts, pastor at Fellowship Memphis in Memphis TN, recently gave a challenging and humbling sermon about what the Christian response – Jesus’ Response – to homosexuality should be. Don’t listen if you want a sermon that will make you feel good. Listen if you want a sermon that will push you the think and behave more like Jesus Christ.

Jazz & Faith

Sam Shellhamer, the former – - at Wheaton College, came in to speak to my College Student Development Class at Taylor University. He offered great wisdom to our class as we are preparing to go into the Student Development Field. One comment that stuck out was the importance to be aware of those things that are spiritually affecting students. With this, he read a passage from Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller. Shellhamer has some serious issues with some of Miller’s conclusions that assume the supremacy of feelings over belief.  I wanted to add some of my own comments. I, like Shellhamer, have my issues with Donald Miller. I struggle with the widespread praise Miller had received for his books. Although he brings up some great questions, sometimes the answers to his questions are ones that I see as insufficient.

 

Near the end of Blue Like Jazz, Miller summarizes his book by saying, “Christianity is more like Jazz; something you feel?”

 

Miller, in some degree, is correct. Jazz is something that you feel. But if you know anything about improvisational Jazz, you realize that undergirding the creativity and emotion of Jazz is a theoretical framework. Musicians take classes in Jazz improvisation, they learn theory and they are mentored by seasoned Jazz artist. Great Jazz artists don’t just pick up and instrument and play. Miles Davis, who is seen as one of the most creative Jazz musicians, didn’t produce The Complete Birth of Cool or Kind of Blue by picking up his trumpet and just playing. He practiced, and developed a framework that worked base upon some of the essential elements, both theoretically and culturally from Jazz.

 

Similarly, Christianity is something you feel. You cannot divorce our faith from our emotional connection with God.  Our souls emotionally connect with God, love is something not merely understood, but true love is felt. But Christianity is only Christianity in a certain theological framework. A Christian does not develop by just assuming elements. A Christian learns what the Bible say and what faith is and from that they create the music of their individual faith. True Christianity (and Christian orthopraxy) is rooted in Orthodoxy, not just in feeling.

 

I have heard people try to just pick up a trumpet and play. Honestly, they are horrible. It sounds like they are killing a duck – if they can get noise out at all. Additionally, I have heard novice trumpet players try to play Jazz. They get up and try to put some notes together. Sometimes they sound good, but those occasions are rare and usually the product of mistakes rather than on purpose. They are “feeling” the music, but music isn’t feeling them – at least not by the way it sounds.

 

Similarly, I have seen people just try to assume Christianity. They try to live what is Christian, but there is a dissonance between what they are saying and doing and what their faith really is. I have seen religious folk call themselves Christian; they can put something together, but they don’t really know what it means to be Christian. They are banking on the culture of their faith and the feeling of what they have always known to be Christian.

 

Another group includes the musicians who can read Jazz on paper, but not improve it. This is where my thoughts match some with Miller. Those “Christian” and religious folk who know how to stick to the script may look good, they may have their ducks in a row, but they really aren’t living full Christian life. They understand the concepts, but haven’t interacted with the emotion of a relationship with Christ. That is something that is foreign. Don’t get me wrong, there are those who earnestly feel emotional when they are playing Jazz from a paper. They are not producing music because that is the way it is. They are playing music because it is beautiful. Likewise, there are Christians who earnestly live vigorously in Christ, but that seem rigid because they stick the script. There is nothing wrong with these Christians; perhaps for them the structure of Christian helps them experience the emotion of their relationship with God.

 

The reality is if we focus too much on the emotion of Jazz (Christianity), than Jazz becomes something we do for our own consumption rather than because of its beauty, but if we are too attached to the rigidness of a script than we have allowed tradition and pious behavior overcomes our relationship with the music (God).

 

If Jazz veered away from its roots and began to sound exactly like classical music, or sounded too much like Classical music it would no longer be Jazz. Additionally, Christianity that looks like generic spirituality is no longer Christianity. We must realize that real improv. spawns from a solid base and that real spiritual fervor spawns as a result of a correct theological understanding of who God is.

 

Another note on Jazz, the Jazz Theologian, Robert Gelinas, has just released his book, Finding the Groove,  on pre-order on Amazon. It will be one I am checking out.

TUFW

TUFW

 

 

I haven’t written about TUFW (Taylor University Fort Wayne) yet. And I am not going to write significantly. I wanted to let people know what happened several weeks ago though: Here is the Press Release (some browsers will read the Press release I placed in the blog fine, but for others you can use the linl).

 

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Date: October 13, 2008

Taylor University officials have announced the discontinuation of the traditional undergraduate program on its Taylor University Fort Wayne (TUFW) branch campus, effective May 31, 2009, and that some yet-to-be-determined programs may be moved to the main campus in Upland.

The announcement was made to TUFW faculty, staff and students today by Dr. Eugene B. Habecker, Taylor’s president, during campus meetings. This does not affect Taylor’s growing online learning program, which numbers nearly 600 students. Neither does it impact Taylor’s Fort Wayne-based MBA program, or the WBCL Radio Network.

The discontinuation of the TUFW undergraduate program impacts:

• 299 full-time and 38 part-time degree-seeking students (213 who live on campus).
• 18 full-time and 24 part-time/adjunct faculty members.
• 56 full-time and 22 part-time staff members.

Richard Gygi, Taylor’s Board chairman, cited the inability to create a successful TUFW business model as the chief factor in the Board’s decision, made during its 2008 fall meeting last week. “After 16 years of significant effort and investment, we concluded that we have been unable to develop the TUFW operation into one that is financially self-sustaining,” he said. “After much deliberation, prayer and consideration, the Taylor Board of Trustees voted to end the traditional undergraduate program at the end of the current school year on May 31, 2009.”

Habecker said that since its inception in 1992 when Taylor University acquired the former Summit Christian College, TUFW has operated at an average deficit of $1 million a year, which has been subsidized from Taylor’s Upland campus budget – resulting in more than $15 million in total subsidies. “Even with the generous contributions of alumni, friends, corporations and foundations, we arrived at the conclusion that the losses were too great to continue with the traditional undergraduate model for TUFW,” he said.

In addition to ending the traditional TUFW undergraduate program, Taylor’s Board tasked the Taylor administration with the following responsibilities: 

• Encourage TUFW undergraduate students to finish their degrees at Taylor’s Upland campus. 
• Support affected faculty and staff during this time of transition.
• Study which programs at TUFW may be consolidated into the undergraduate program on Taylor’s Upland campus.
• Explore the potential of future Taylor University academic programs in the Fort Wayne community.
• Develop recommendations for alternative uses for the Fort Wayne facility.

“This has been one of the most difficult decisions our Board of Trustees has ever made,” Gygi stated.

“Our goal is to do everything within our power to see that the members of our Taylor community are able to continue their lives with the least disruption possible,” added Habecker.

“I observed all of the Board of Trustee deliberations and these men and women exhibited exceptional boardsmanship in making this very difficult decision,” said Dr. Duane Kilty, TUFW chancellor. “While this decision brings a sense of great sorrow, I accept and support it.

“For the past two-and-a-half years, Joni and I have had the privilege of serving the TUFW community. We have grown in our love and respect for our students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends,” Kilty continued. “During the coming days, we will be dedicated to ensuring to the best of our ability that these men and women are able to continue their educations and careers. We covet the prayers of our neighbors, friends and families.”

“The Board of Trustees and I highly commend the leadership of Chancellor Duane Kilty and his wife Joni, the dedicated efforts of faculty and staff, the commitment of students and parents, the generosity of alumni and friends, and the support of the greater Fort Wayne community,” said Habecker. “Taylor University continues to embrace the alumni of its branch campus as well as alumni from its predecessors, Fort Wayne Bible College and Summit Christian College.”

Habecker said that Taylor’s main campus in Upland is academically strong and financially sound, a fact evidenced by its ranking as the number one Midwest baccalaureate university by U.S.News and World Report for the past two years.

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I am not going to make any comments, because I am personally processing a lot. Please just stay in Prayer for all of those associated with the TUFW campus. I am going to give some links to responses from students and others affected by the happenings. They represent the gamut of emotions related to this process.

 

 

-          Transparency

-          Questions

-           Thoughts

-          Nostalgia

-          Observer

-          Shock

-          Longing

-           Perspective

-          Thoughts

-          Hope

 

There are other News Reports you can find by simply searching “TUFW” or “Taylor University Fort Wayne.” I wanted to add that TUFW is not alone in this closing; two similar universities- Cascade & Pillsbury have recently gone through the same trial.

 

Pleas pray, not only for those related to TUFW but for those at Cascade and Pillsbury as well.